Alexander S. Friedman

Alexander S. Friedman "is chief financial officer for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Friedman oversees financial functions, strategy, facilities, real estate, security, travel, and helps lead impact assessment and improvement efforts.

"Before joining the foundation in 2007, Friedman worked as an investment banker with Lazard, the international investment bank. Prior, he led corporate development at Medarex, a publicly held biotechnology company. He also served as a White House fellow and as an assistant to the secretary of defense for special projects in the Clinton Administration.

"Friedman holds a Juris Doctorate from Columbia Law School, a Master of Business Administration degree from Columbia Business School, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has served on the board of several non-profit organizations, including NetAid and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council."

"Mr. Alexander Friedman is a mergers and acquisitions investment banker at Lazard Freres & Co. Prior to Lazard, he held executive positions at Medarex and OpenVenture Group and served as a White House Fellow in the Clinton Administration.

"Mr. Friedman has started a number of venture-backed companies and non-profits. He co-founded Adventa.com, an Internet firm that provides business-to-business marketing information. He also was founder and president of Accelerated Clinical, a biotechnology services company dedicated to accelerating the clinical trial process for biotechnology firms.

"Mr. Friedman, who was raised in New York and Washington, DC, received a BA in politics from Princeton University and a JD-MBA from Columbia University. He is the founder of the 21st Century Roundtable, his generation's first civic venture-capital non-profit group. It pairs young leaders of non-profits with young professionals who can provide advice, services and financing. He also founded Climb for the Cure, a national student effort to raise $1 million for AIDS research through a climb of Alaska's Mt. McKinley, and has served as a small-claims court and family mediator in Harlem and the South Bronx.

"... has served as a consultant to Harvard's Center for International Development."